Fate's Surrender (Eternal Sorrows Book 3) by Sarra Cannon (android based ebook reader txt) 📕

the voice, but there was nothing more than shadows here. She knew better, though. The Dark One often hid in the shadows. Watching.

“You had such promise when you first appeared in this world,” the voice said again. It echoed off the icy walls.

“I’m sorry, Mistress,” the witch said. The tears she wanted to cry earlier came freely now, so cold they stuck to her cheeks like icicles. “Please forgive me.”

The Dark One stepped forward now, her image shadowy and unclear, like a mirage.

“Stand up, girl,” she said sternly.

A sob escaped the witch’s lips.

Not again. I cannot survive this again.

“You are weak,” the Dark One spat. “Not like my Parrish. She was always the strongest. She would have done great things at my side, but she betrayed me, just like you. Why is loyalty so difficult to foster in young ones?”

The witch looked up, surprised. “Your Parrish? What does that mean?”

The Dark One waved a shadowy hand in front of her face and paced the floor. Well, more like hovered over the floor. She didn’t seem to actually be there at all, and the witch wondered how she was doing that. Had she escaped her own icy prison already? Or was this merely a projection?

Maybe none of this was real.

“That was so long ago, it no longer matters,” the Dark One said, a hint of sadness in her voice. “I have come to know betrayal so intimately, I have learned to use it to my advantage. But I would give anything to have someone strong like her on my side now. You have the potential to be strong, but you are too weak-minded. Perhaps, if I had raised you from birth, things might have been different.”

The witch lowered her head, hopelessness flowing through her like a dark river.

This was the end, then. The Dark One would consume her power and her life force, and it would all be over.

The witch realized now that she did not really want to die. She still hadn’t made anything of her life.

She would die a failure.

The witch collapsed at the shadow’s feet, and was immediately yanked upward until her own feet dangled far above the icy floor.

An invisible power pushed her back against the wall, and despite her instincts, she knew better now than to resist. Resistance only made the torture worse and last longer.

Instead, she gritted her teeth and braced herself for whatever was to come next.

To her surprise, the Dark One smiled.

“There,” she said. “A little of that strength I was after. Perhaps I have yet underestimated your resolve and inner fire. Perhaps you are of some use to me moving forward. I’ll have to do something about your loyalty, however.”

The Dark One’s shadow moved in close as a dark purple energy began to swirl around the witch’s feet.

Terrified, she kept her chin up, even as her breath came faster and her heart pounded in her chest. She bit down on her lower lip until she tasted blood, but she did not flinch or try to move away.

Whatever was to become of her now, it was out of her hands.

“I have one last job for you,” the Dark One said. “One last opportunity to prove yourself as a loyal servant. And to go along with this chance, I will also show you a small glimpse of my power.”

The necromancer flicked a finger upward, and the purple energy swirling on the floor snaked up the witch’s body, its light growing until it nearly blinded her.

She braced herself for the pain, but what came instead was something she never expected.

Healing.

For the first time in hours, she experienced not only relief, but true bliss, as if the sun had finally chosen to shine on her cold, shriveled body. She blossomed like a flower inside its light.

Her burned skin smoothed out and regained its youthful glow. The warmth of her fire returned to her core. And…

Something else. A flash of blinding light inside her skull, disorienting but not exactly painful.

When the light released her, she fell to her knees.

“How?” the witch cried, running her hands along her perfect skin. She had been so sure she was ruined forever. Gratitude flowed through her like oceans.

Where before she was sure she had felt something close to hatred for the necromancer standing before her, now she felt nothing but love and adoration.

In fact, she couldn’t imagine feeling anything less than love and absolute devotion to the Dark One. It filled her with purpose.

“I am a necromancer,” the Dark One said. “In one hand, I control death and can inflict unimaginable pain, but in my other hand, I also hold life. Rebirth. As easily as I have given it, I can also take it away.”

The Dark One studied her, looking deeply into her eyes before she smiled.

“But we won’t have any more of your foolishness, will we? You see it now, don’t you? The beauty of your devotion?”

“I do,” she whispered, knowing she had been given a great gift. A second chance. Love filled her heart. “I will not disappoint you again, Mistress.”

The Dark One leaned close to her ear and placed a shadowy hand on her back.

“It’s all falling into place, and soon, I will go free. The question, my dear, is whether you will still be at my side when I do. Now stand up and get to work. I have given your four guardian friends something to distract them for a while. I need you to find the child. Zoe is the key to everything now.”

The Dark One placed a hand on the witch’s forehead, forcing her eyes to close.

When she opened them a moment later, she found herself lying in a patch of sunlight in the grass, the tall buildings of the city of New York rising against the early afternoon sky.

Nine

Crash

This is insane.

Crash paced the room, willing the IV in Noah’s arm to dump its medicine faster.

Every second that passed was another second they could be out there, fighting to make sure no one lost